Police ammoDHS denies plan for large ammunition buy

Published 26 March 2013

DHS announcement that it was planning to buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next five years was greeted with questions by some and a sense of alarm by others. Now DHS is explaining its move.

Questions still linger about huge DHS ammunition buy // Source: yjc.ir

DHS announcement that  it was planning to buy 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next five years was greeted with questions by some and a sense of alarm by others.  Now DHS is explaining its move.

According to a report in US News, DHS said it usually fills its goods and services requirements at the same time because it is cheaper for the agency. DHS also said that the number 1.6 billion  is misleading, because the language of the purchase said it would need “up to” a certain amount.

The language for one request made by DHS for training centers and law enforcement personnel was for “up to” 750 million rounds of ammunition for training over the next five years, according to DHS spokesman Peter Boogaard.

A second contract, also for five years, allows for the purchase of “up to” 450 million rounds for law enforcement, Boogaard noted.  The contract would also be for all DHS agencies except the coast guard.

“With more than 100,000 armed law enforcement personnel in DHS, significant quantities of ammunition are used to support law enforcement operations, quarterly qualifications, and training, to include advanced firearms training exercises,” Boogaard told U.S. News.

DHS responded to concerns over the purchase in  a detailed letter to Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), discussing  how many bullets had been purchased and why.

DHS routinely establishes strategic sourcing contracts that combine the requirements of all its components for commonly purchased goods and services such as ammunition,” a DHS legislative affairs officer wrote Coburn. “These strategic sourcing contracts help leverage the purchasing power of DHS to efficiently procure equipment and supplies at significantly lower costs.”

Lawmakers have been wondering for a while why DHS made such a large purchase and have been asking DHS for answers. The , but the the matter gained publicity when this video was posted by Infowars, which shows Representative Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansa) saying at the Conservative Political Action Conference that DHS ignored his inquiries into why the department is purchasing so many rounds.

“They have no answer for that question. They refuse to answer to answer that,” Huelskamp says in the video. Huelskamp’s office sent a letter to DHS expressing his concerns, but had not heard back.

In his letter, Huelskamp wrote that it had “became clear” that DHS was “purchasing vast quantities of ammunition” and that “estimates show that this … would be enough for 24 Iraq wars.”

“The extraordinary level of ammunition purchases made by Homeland Security seems to have, in states such as my own, created an extreme shortage of ammunition to the point where many gun owners are unable to purchase any,” he wrote.